Overview
Managing a multi-brand website ecosystem.
Kao is a global consumer goods company known for its portfolio of beauty, skincare, and household brands, which include Jergens, Bioré, John Frieda, Curél, Bio-Oil, Ban, and re/cover.
As the lead product designer, I supported Kao with updates and requests, working across all brand sites and the centralized brand hub on Shopify. I developed modular design libraries and components for each brand site, introduced new features, and handled updates across homepages, visuals, micro-animations, loyalty programs, cart functionality, and shoppable experiences.
This case study highlights:
Shoppable Homepage
Cart drawer optimizations
Custom bundling
Loyalty landing page
Shoppable Homepage
A central hub for shopping across all Kao brands.
While the Kao homepage connected to each individual brand site, it lacked a centralized shopping experience, making it difficult for users to explore products across brands and ultimately leading to missed conversion opportunities.
question
How might we create a seamless shopping experience that introduces Kao’s full brand portfolio and builds consumer trust?
In the first iteration, I introduced three modules: a category-based module that would lead to a new collection of filtered products across all brands, a shoppable carousel that pulled in several collections of products from all brand sites, and a UGC module to build awareness of Kao brand ownership.
To keep things streamlined on the backend, the Kao team selected two of the three modules: the shoppable carousel and UGC. They especially valued the flexibility to curate the carousel with featured collections like best sellers or seasonal picks.
Proposed Design
Rolled-out Design
Cart drawer optimizations 2025
Optimizing add-to-cart completion.
Kao aimed to drive product discovery and motivate users to add more items to their cart by offering free shipping incentives.
question
How might we inspire users to explore more products while making it easier to reach free shipping thresholds?
To help users complete purchases with ease, I designed an optimized cart experience featuring simplified product cards that allowed for quick add-to-cart actions. Version 1 placed the product suggestions below the cart, beneath the loyalty sign-up prompt for point redemption. Version 2 moved the suggestions to the top, emphasizing product additions to unlock free shipping.
As of now, the Kao team has not yet finalized which version to implement.
Version 1
Version 2
Custom Bundling 2024
Boosting value with bundle personalization.
The Kao team aimed to provide custom product bundles across brands to boost sales.
question
How might we make third-party bundling feel seamless and on-brand?
Considering the third-party app limitations, I explored streamlined solutions that ensured a consistent Kao brand experience while navigating technical constraints, building on the brand's existing visual identity and UI.
The bundle picker walked users through a clear 3-step flow, with breadcrumb navigation to show progress and options to select product variants along the way. The final screen summarized the selected products, highlighted total savings, and let users review their bundle and add all items to their cart with a single click.
Bundle Start Screen
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Chosen Bundle
Loyalty Landing Page 2024
Rewarding brand loyalty.
Kao aimed to reward returning customers by creating a loyalty page that encouraged sign-ups and clearly explained the benefits and point system.
question
How might we integrate loyalty in a way that encourages sign-ups and clearly communicates its value?
I developed flexible modules that adapted based on the third-party app’s capabilities, ensuring the page displayed personalized content for logged-in users and informative prompts for visitors not yet enrolled.
Key modules featured how the rewards program works, ways to earn points, a brand gallery to boost recognition, point conversion, and a referral incentive. Logged-in users also saw a personalized message highlighting their point balance, along with a quick link to start shopping near the top of the page.
Loyalty (Logged Out Users)
Loyalty (Logged in Users)
Impact
Elevating a multi-brand ecosystem
By creating a flexible and consistent multi-brand design system, I helped Kao unlock new revenue opportunities across its digital ecosystem. Centralized shopping features and optimized cart interactions reduced friction and improved product discovery across Jergens, Bioré, John Frieda, and more. The loyalty experience and bundle customization tools strengthened customer retention and incentivized higher order values—all while maintaining a cohesive, on-brand experience despite third-party app constraints.